It was a big night for some of the top prospects in the system, with Francisco Lindor representing the organization in the Futures Game and Jesus Aguilar and Clint Frazier staying hot. As we head into the All-Star break, Arthur Kinney has you covered, recapping the performances of those top prospects and everyone else throughout the system. Join Arthur as he takes you Around the Farm.

In the early part of the season, Clint Frazier's performance did not truly look the part of a high first round pick. It was still early for the center fielder, however, and the lack of results was not truly a big problem. Lately, however, Frazier has turned things around and started to put up some big numbers. Join Arthur Kinney as he outlines Frazier's recent tear and recaps the rest of the action from the minor leagues, taking you Around the Farm.

In today’s Minor Happenings, Tony Lastoria reviews the season that Low-A Lake County first baseman Nellie Rodriguez is having to date and the development process he has gone through with his coaches to bring more consistency to his bat. He also provides an absolute ton of comments from Ross Atkins on players up and down the system such as Giovanny Urshela, Ryan Merritt, Shawn Morimando, Clint Frazier, Eric Haase, Francisco Mejia, and many more.

Well, LeBron James is still undecided. Or maybe he isn't. Who knows? But unlike James, one star in the Cleveland organization was ready to go Thursday night. Francisco Lindor may be having a slightly down season compared to his high standards, yet the shortstop still looks ready for a promotion sooner rather than later. Join Jim Piascik as he breaks down Lindor's night, recaps the rest of the action throughout the system, and takes you Around the Farm.

The Fourth of July proved to be a less-than-impressive day in the Cleveland organization, but Arthur Kinney still found some performances of note. One of them belonged to Joe Sever, who looks to be getting back on track after some recent struggles. Join Arthur as he recaps all of the Independence Day action and takes you Around the Farm.

In this week’s Minor Happenings, the IBI's Tony Lastoria takes a look at the recent surge in performance at Triple-A for right-handed pitcher Danny Salazar, how his stuff has looked and if he is getting back into the form that impacted the Indians roster late last season. He takes a deep look into the breakout performance at Double-A Akron for outfielder Anthony Gallas, what it means and what has changed for him. He also provides some insight into the turnaround for Low-A Lake County righty Mitch Brown, looks at the biggest change to Triple-A catcher Roberto Perez’s approach and more.

The name of the game is patience. No wait, that was last night's theme. Anyway, Kieran Lovegrove rewarded anyone who has been patient with him Thursday night, tossing five no-hit innings and showing flashes of why he was a highly regarded third round pick in 2012. He was joined by Claudio Bautista, who will also need some patience in the future as he learns to be more selective at the plate. Join Jim Piascik as takes you Around the Farm, breaking down Lovegrove and Bautista's nights in addition to recapping all the action throughout the organization.

It is really hard to be patient for any stretch of time. Like waiting for Christmas as a child -- or even now for Jim Piascik, the wait for the final Hobbit movie -- is unbearable (same for the waits leading up to the first two, for that matter). But it is absolutely vital to be patient to a fault with prospects, especially ones with the talent of Mitch Brown and Carlos Moncrief. Join Jim as he breaks down Brown's turnaround, the recent resurgence of Moncrief, and much more as he takes you Around the Farm.

It is easy to get caught up in recent events and become prisoners of the moment. Really, it just seems like human nature to overvalue the most recent thing to happen. Each year, it happens to a certain number of players: those with hot Aprils seem to have figured something out and those with cold ones seem to have taken a step back. By and large, however, these early season performances go back to normal, which is exactly what is happening with Ronny Rodriguez. Join Jim Piascik as he breaks down Rodriguez's season, Bobby Bradley's debut to date, and much more as he takes you Around the Farm.

One bounce of the ball can be all it takes to change everything. Top prospect Francisco Lindor experienced this firsthand Wednesday as a routine double play grounder took a bad hop, bouncing up and hitting him in the face. Lindor seems to have avoided being struck in the eye, a potentially positive development, though he is still getting checked out. Join Jim Piascik as takes you Around the Farm, reporting from Canal Park and bringing you the rest of the action on a busy night in the system.

When it comes to prospects, sometimes the divide between one who makes it and one who does not just comes down to health. Roberto Perez and LeVon Washington are both examples of this, as they are both in the midst of big years after injury-riddled 2013 seasons. Now that both are healthy, Perez and Washington are raking, as they did Saturday. Join Arthur Kinney as he writes about Perez and his future, Washington and his potential rise, and much more as he takes you Around the Farm.

After a two week hiatus because of the insane amount of time spent on the draft there past two weeks here at the IBI, the Happenings are back! In today’s report, the IBI's Tony Lastoria takes a look at the season that outfielder Tyler Naquin has had and the significant adjustment he has made which has led to a major improvement in an area of greatest weakness. He also looks at the sensational season that lefty Luis Lugo is having, provides tons of comments from Ross Atkins and Ted Kubiak on several players and roster issues - including some absolutely glowing comments on catcher Francisco Mejia - and provides an update on Jose Ramirez, Bryson Myles, Adam Miller, Giovanny Urshela and much more.

With another season here, the IBI's Tony Lastoria digs up an article which has been a site favorite for a few years. He talks about the decisions teams make with their prospects and the way they are handled which provides a good idea of how a team values each player in the organization. If you pay attention to how a player is used and how they are moved, you can get a good feel for their prospect value.

As spring training gets underway, here is an updated Cleveland Indians depth chart for the 2014 season and where players are "projected" to be assigned from Cleveland all the way down to extended spring training. We will continue to update this listing as moves are made this offseason, during spring training, and throughout the season with the addition, subtraction, promotion, demotion, etc of players. Happy pitchers and catchers day!

The Cleveland Indians today announced the organizational staff alignment within the Player Development System for the upcoming season. Chris Tremie remains as manager in Columbus while Dave Wallace moves up to Akron and Scooter Tucker moves to Carolina. Edwin Rodriguez has moved into a special assistant role and the Indians also welcomed in several new coaches.

The Indians continue to focus on picking up young, upside arms from the draft to add to the starting pitching mix in the minors. While they have not had a lot of luck in this endeavor in previous years, they have adjusted the development process for starting pitchers which may help them going forward. One such new arm added to the mix this year was 2013 5th round draft pick left-hander Sean Brady, and the IBI's Tony Lastoria recently sat down and talked with him about his pro debut and the draft.

On Wednesday the IBI's Tony Lastoria posted part one of his extensive interview with Indians minor league pitching coordinator Ruben Niebla. In that piece we discussed a lot of the strides made and some struggled encountered by a great many pitchers at the full season affiliates. In today's second part, he provides Niebla’s thoughts on a bevy of young arms at the short season levels, gets into several of the philosophical and mechanical changes the Indians implemented in 2013 with how they develop pitchers, and discussed a ton of velocity jumps made by a litany of pitchers this season.

The IBI's Tony Lastoria recently had a chance to sit down with Indians minor league pitching coordinator Ruben Niebla and discussed the strides and sometimes the struggles for a great many pitchers at the full season affiliates this year. They talked about how Dylan Baker and Cody Anderson have separated themselves as prospects, the development of Shawn Morimando and Joe Colon, the rise of Will Roberts and Matt Packer, the work being done with Trevor Bauer, the resurgence of Bryan Price, and lots more.

Today we wrap up the 2013 Tony Awards with the announcement of the All-Tony teams for 2013. These are the first, second and third teams as Tony sees them in the Cleveland Indians organization based on their performance this past year. Again, this is not a top prospect listing by position, but a listing based 100% on performance from the 2013 season.

Today we continue the IBI’s year-end awards with the announcement of the Offensive Player of the Year. This award goes to the position player in the Indians organization that had the best year. Like with all the awards so far, this is 100% based on performance and not on prospect standing. Tony lists all of the top performances and narrows it down to three players who all had fantastic seasons, and his pick as the top player may come as a surprise.

Available IBI Books

The 2014 Cleveland Indians Baseball Insider book featuring the Indians' Top 100 Prospects and more is now available. Also, previous editions from 2008-2012 are also available at a discounted rate. Just click on the book image for more information. Thanks again for all the support!